Monday, May 28, 2012

Homemade Dulce de Leche

Well, I finally did it. I made some dulce de leche this weekend. I have been thinking about it for a long time, but was too scared to do it. I remember hearing one of our friends making some on the stove top and it exploded and there was sticky stuff all over the kitchen and ceiling. No thanks, don't want anyone of that.

Then lately I have been reading about some food bloggers making it in a slow cooker. Hmm. That sounded a little safer. Usually, they put the cans of sweetened condensed milk directly into the slow cooker fill with water and voila, done in about 10hrs. But then I found a blogger who had a different idea. She put the milk into canning jars instead of leaving it in the can, due to the potential BPA contamination. That sounded like a great idea for me. Here is the link http://www.theyummylife.com . I couldn't wait to try it.

All you need are 2 jars (14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk, 3 wide mouth 1/2 pint canning jars and a slow cooker. What could be easier.

You just have to make sure you put enough water in the slow cooker. These jars fit perfect in my Crockpot.

And then set it for 10hrs. You might be able to put it on high and do it faster, but I didn't want to risk it. I followed the steps as instructed. The end result being a fantastic tasting dulce de leche. Smooth, creamy and ready to spread on whatever you like. I spread some on the mini donuts I had just made. Mmmm!
And the best part is that there is no mess. The dulce de leche is already in jars. I put mine in the fridge for later use, but like http://www.theyummylife.com says, you can put a cute tag on it and give it as gifts. I know quite a few people who would enjoy receiving this gift.

Homemade Dulce de Leche

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 5-10 min

Cook Time: 10 hrs

Keywords: slow-cooker topping sweetened condensed milk Spanish

Ingredients (3- 1/2pt jars)

2 cans (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Also needed

3 wide mouth 1/2 pt canning jars

slow cooker

water

Instructions

Pour the cans of sweetened condensed milk evenly into the 3 canning jars and close lids firmly by hand.

Place canning jars at the bottom of your slow cooker and fill with hot water till there is at least 1 inch of water above the level of the jars. The hot water will speed up the cooking process.

Set your slow cooker to 10 hours. I quickly checked the results after 9 hours, but I let it run the full 10 hours as recommended.

After 10 hours, carefully remove the jars from slow cooker with canning tongs. Of course I didn't buy these and just using regular tongs with rubber grippers. Just be careful not to drop the jar.

Place jars on a heat safe surface and let the jars cool off to room temperature. If there is any rust on the outside lids of the jar, just simply wipe it off.

Once it has cooled off, just unscrew the lids and dip in a spoon. The lids will be sealed, but with a little prying, do come off easily. Your dulce de leche is ready to be served on crepes, pancakes, fruit, donuts, or whatever you wish.